Sunday Igboho: Nigeria’s New General, by Ugoji Egbujo

A few years ago, Sunday Igboho was a mere fugitive.After his confrontations with Fulani herdsmen, Buhari’s police declared him wanted. He fled the country. In Cotonou, he walked into a trap. His fabled juju lost its signal, and he was dumped into dungeon.  

Before that incarceration, Igboho had issued grave threats against Tinubu and every Yoruba politician seeking to legitimise the Nigerian state through participation in the 2023 elections. He vowed to execute such “political traitors.” At the time, many believed he possessed supernatural powers. The sobering interregnum in Cotonou probably served him well by bringing him down to earth.

That sobering interlude   lasted roughly two years. Buhari departed. Tinubu arrived, replacing a lighter Hausa-Fulani hegemony with a heavier Yoruba variant. Igboho eventually completed his interrupted journey and resurfaced in Germany, where he appeared to be enjoying a quieter phase — sharing motivational speeches on TikTok. He urged his soldiers and supporters to rally behind the new government led by their kinsman. Perhaps the next best thing to a Yoruba nation was a Yoruba presidency. The Yoruba nationalist crusade had been effectively suspended. It might well be resurrected when power shifts to another ethnic group.   Igboho had pivoted to policing patriotism.

Tinubu probably did not free Igboho for narrow political reasons. Yet that now appears to be the practical outcome. Igboho seems determined to consolidate his position by shining Tinubu’s political shoes. On his return, he first visited some of the traditional rulers he had once threatened to decapitate. Just when it seemed he might settle into a quieter life, he publicly threatened to eliminate anyone in the Southwest who failed to support Tinubu. Some whispered that Igboho was an MC Oluomo without a motor park .

In a country where the DSS hauls citizens to court for calling Tinubu a criminal, nobody moved to caution Igboho. Soon he unveiled his army. He had quietly   reassembled his soldiers and baptised them Iru Ekun. Perhaps whatever Asari Dokubo and Tompolo could do, Igboho could do too. He offered to help tackle banditry. The governor of his native Oyo State resisted the idea. Then came the Oyo abductions. Bandits who had ransacked parts of Kwara appeared to have besieged Oyo. Igboho and his men moved in. Igboho was back. The Nigerian state was on its knees.

In a convoy of trucks loaded with armed men, he swept into his town with the swagger of a Chief of Army Staff. In his hometown of Igboho, he summoned Fulani leaders to the palace of the traditional ruler and issued a strict two-hour ultimatum for the release of recently abducted residents, including a pregnant woman. He warned that no ransom would be paid and threatened decisive action if they failed to comply. Viral reports claimed some victims were freed immediately, though the Oyo State Police and local government disputed that Igboho’s intervention was responsible. Before leaving the area, General Igboho warned the Fulani community, threatening to eliminate anyone who offered support or sympathy to the bandits.

A few days later, with many Yorubas calling on Igboho to defend the region,   Igboho and his Iru Ekun fighters were at the Old Oyo National Park, scanning the forest , not with native juju technology but with drones. With a shake of the head, they sent a clear message that dislodging Fulani   bandits from Yorubaland — a task at which Tinubu’s army had struggled — was no great challenge for the Igboho army.

Igboho was not merely doing photo ops. He was attempting what Vice President Shettima had promised before the elections .   Two days later came reports of a clash with suspected Fulani terrorists. Some of his men were injured.   Their protective charms apparently did not deliver the full safety the juju doctors   had been promised. But they are not quitting. Igboho ,   it appears,   now has a contract . Yet the Lakurawa and Boko haram would prove formidable.   But with an apparent backing of the presidency, Igboho is now   a legend .

The Nigerian state is terribly weak. It has been overrun by opportunistic infections. Consequently, Igboho and his ilk — their warts notwithstanding — are once again cast as heroes. The government is using fire to fight fire. When Tinubu eventually leaves office, Igboho’s army may well return to rebellion and resume the battle for ethnic self-determination.  

Nigeria is now littered with local mercenaries and civilian Joint Task Forces. We are riding on the back of the tiger. It is easy to arm thugs to defend the community. It   is extraordinarily difficult to disarm them afterwards.

Since the state lies prostrate, isn’t it time to   liberalise   rifle ownership?   So that citizens can defend themselves by themselves . Civilian JTFs and rifle   toting   vigilantes are already problematic enough, because ordinarily people cant keep rifles. Yet     communal ownership of such outfits at least limits the potential for personal abuse.  The formal licensing and funding of privately owned armies   with   ethnically separatist tendencies   to perform core state functions   is unmistakable evidence of a bleak future. Since we need mercenaries,   let’s hire foreign professional mercenaries with modern tools .   They are easier to disengage . The literal   assimilation of Igboho’s   Yoruba Nationalist Army called Iru Ekun   into the security architecture of the state is a statement of utter hopelessness.  

Soon, these chickens too will come home to roost.

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